1Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Government Arts College for Women (AU), Pudukkottai-622001, Tamil Nadu, India
2Assistant Professor, Ashoka Business School, Malkapur, Yadadri, Bhuvanagiri, Hyderabad-508252, Telangana, India
Online Published on 24 June, 2022.
The rise of emotional intelligence (EI) as a crucial psychological resource of employees predicting their performance and well-being has stimulated the use of EI measures in organizational settings. This study aimed to develop a self-report instrument to measure EI of employees working in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), an emotionally labour-intensive business offering financial services to the poor.
The conventional scale development paradigm involving qualitative (n=8) and quantitative (n=232) studies were conducted in five MFIs across nine districts in Telangana, India.
The results yielded a 24-item Emotional Intelligence for Microfinance (EI-MF) measure consisting of six dimensions: self-emotional appraisal (SEA), others’ emotion appraisal (OEA), emotional self-management (ESM), emotional management of co-workers (EMW), emotional management of clients (EMC) and moral emotions management (MEM).
This study is a first-of-its-kind to propose an EI measure for employees in microfinance jobs. The EI-MF measure is an extension of the existing EI measures with novel dimensions such as EMC and MEM as well as a value addition to EI research in organizational settings.
Emotions, Emotional intelligence, Microfinance Institutions, Scale development
